Here are the London uni events happening for World Mental Health Day 2021

A reminder to take care under the wraths of Covid and uni stress


Today, Sunday 10th October, is World Mental Health Day: an annual campaign on mental health education, awareness, and advocacy against the deep-rooted stigmas. 

Usually, most people will probably shrug it off as another “awareness day” for performative actions. But this is no normal year. With Covid taking a terrible toll on public health (both physical and mental) and social inequalities surfacing on our screens, I think we can all relate to World Mental Health Day a bit more — it also has a fitting theme of “Mental Health in an Unequal World.

And what’s better than discussing self-care where we stress out the most – delightful uni? Check out below for what’s going on at London unis for World Mental Health Day:

UCL

I’m not biased as a student here, but I think UCL is quite impressive at promoting wellbeing and equity on campus. Well, at least they get the credit for trying very hard.

UCL lit up its Portico purple to recognise disability discrimination during the Paralympics

Because no one wants to work on a Sunday, the uni’s Student Support and Wellbeing team will be hosting their official events on Monday, October 11th.

One of their initiatives is a “Board of Positivity” in the Student Centre, where all students are invited to write three compliments of themselves and pin them onto a shared board. But, if you ask me, that’s nowhere as exciting as the other event: therapy dogs! Between 1.00pm and 3.00pm, drop by the Japanese Garden for a much-needed serotonin boost in the form of happy doggies.

If attending events on campus a day late isn’t your thing, the Mental Health Society will also be hosting a virtual mental health Trivia Night with City University’s Mental Health Society from 5.00pm tonight.

Fancy proving your uni is better at maintaining mental health? Join the session, and we shall find out.

KCL

KCL has published lots of recent research on mental health but will not be hosting any official events this weekend. Instead, they wrote an article listing useful mental health resources for students and hinted at themed events for an upcoming “Wellbeing Week” in November. 

On the other hand, the Students’ Union has many wellbeing events throughout the month—including some specifically for Black students by Black Student’s Talk. The Meditation Society and Positive Peers will also be hosting a World Mental Health Day meditation session at Guys Campus this afternoon.

LSE

In a brief Twitter post, the uni said it’s going to mark Mental Health Day by “hosting a coffee morning facilitated by the Student Wellbeing Service Mental Health Advisers” from 10.ooam on Monday morning – nice try, but think you’ve just missed the mark there, LSE. 

City

In addition to the collaboration Trivia Night with UCL’s MHS, City’s Mental Health Society and a staff member of the Mental Health team will be doing an Instagram takeover on the uni’s official page.

The Student Hub also published an article outlining the available resources for promoting mental wellbeing.

Royal Holloway

The Students’ Union is hosting a letter-writing event about cherishing personal achievements today. Here’s their heartfelt message: “Be inspired by your own journey, share this moment with yourself – in your own way and in your own words.”

UAL

UAL has an event planned from 11.00am to noon on Monday titled “World Mental Health Day” with absolutely no descriptions. Will it be incredible or completely tone-deaf? Who knows. UAL students, you are in for a surprise.

Central Saint Martins, UAL

In all honesty, the events themselves don’t really matter, and most of us don’t want to step out of our rooms on a Sunday anyway.

The important thing to take away from World Mental Health Day is that mental health is just as important as physical health; it impacts us all, but marginalised people, such as BAME communities, often get the short end of the stick with discrimination and disparities in treatment.

With that in mind, let’s take care of ourselves and others when diving into the new (and frankly, horrifyingly uncertain) school year, and have a mindful World Mental Health Day.

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